As wireless technology becomes more and more common in communication between various electronic devices, user interface design faces new problems and challenges. The technology used, when a device communicates with and transfers data to other devices in a local area, is conventionally based on various cables. A widely used solution in short-range wireless data transmission is IrDA (Infrared Data Association) technology. IrDA is based on infrared transmission, whereby visual communication must be possible between the parties and so the distance is limited. Other short-range wireless data transmission technologies include e.g. Bluetooth, WLAN (IEEE 802.11 standard), BRAN (HiperLAN 1/2) and Home RF.
Bluetooth operates in the frequency range of 2.4 GHz, and currently, the Bluetooth range is a few tens of metres at normal power. One application area is to replace cables and the necessity of visual communication by Bluetooth technology in data transmission between devices, such as wireless mobile stations, portable computers, cameras and headphones. The Bluetooth solution is also used in home automation applications with limited visual communication. In both application areas it is likely that the environment comprises a plurality of Bluetooth devices, in addition to the desired one, with which a connection could be established. Identification of various devices poses a problem.
As a connection is established, the device transmits an inquiry to the environment, to which inquiry all attainable Bluetooth devices reply. The device replying to the inquiry always transmits in a feedback message its own device address (BD_ADDR), and in some cases, its name. The Bluetooth device address (BD_ADDR) is device-specific, and it is expressed in a hexadecimal form. The device name (Bluetooth name), in turn, is generally defined on the device level, for instance, as ‘My phone’ or ‘Nokia 6210’. Because the hexadecimal Bluetooth address is not very illustrative to the user, the Bluetooth names of the devices that replied to the inquiry are informed to the user.
A problem with the above-described arrangement is a situation, where there are several similar devices in the environment. A plurality of devices then have the same device-level name, and a list of the devices in the environment provided to the user comprises several identical names. Hence, the user is not provided with sufficient information to be able to select the exactly right device, but in the worst case the user must go through all the alternatives appearing under the same name, in order to establish a connection to the desired device. For the user this is a slow and laborious solution and the requirements of good usability are not achieved thereby. Because Bluetooth is still relatively new technology, hardly any practical solutions to this problem have been implemented.